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Notes: Dodgers' bullpen short on lefties

Dodgers notes: Bullpen short on lefties

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By Ken Gurnick
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MLB.com |

NEW YORK -- Whether reliever Joe Beimel cut his hand in a hotel bathroom as he claimed, or in a bar as various reports assert, it happened, he's unavailable and the Dodgers' bullpen is the worse for it.

General manager Ned Colletti said he spoke with Beimel, that Beimel's story of how the injury occurred remained the same, and that no further action has been taken, other than leaving Beimel off the postseason roster.

"He knows where to reach me," said Colletti. "I don't want it to be a distraction to the club. It will be handled in a timely and appropriate manner. Right now, the most important aspect is the 25 guys on the roster."

Beimel told MLB.com the injury occurred when a water glass slipped out of his hand and shattered in the bathroom sink as he tried to grab it. The Los Angeles Times reported that it happened in a bar when a glass he was holding slipped and it shattered as he tried to grab it against a post.

Beimel had the gash sewn in layers by a plastic surgeon Thursday after 10 stitches were unable to completely close the wound.

Colletti conceded the situation has already been a distraction because the club lost its situational left-handed reliever, putting manager Grady Little in a position where he had to improvise in Game 1, using starter Brad Penny in the seventh inning, when he might have used Beimel.

Little said, under the circumstances, he wouldn't have managed Game 1 any different than he did.

"That's just the way we planned to do it," he said.

If he had Beimel available, however, it would have been different.

"If we had everybody, I might have used Penny earlier," he said. "When we lost Beimel, I had to adjust the thinking."

Little said the strategy might have worked had Penny not walked Jose Reyes leading off what became a two-run seventh inning for the Mets. It might also have been different had starter Derek Lowe pitched deeper into the game than 5 1/3 innings, because he had to use his only left-hander, Mark Hendrickson, to clean up the sixth-inning mess Lowe left with left-handed hitter Shawn Green up.

"That's nothing new to us," said Little, whose starters have departed early from a lot of starts.

Without Penny available and no game Friday, Little said he planned to use closer Takashi Saito for two innings if the Dodgers led late in Game 2.

Game 3 time set: The Dodgers were scheduled to fly home after Game 2 and have a workout at Dodger Stadium on Friday afternoon, although Little said time spent on the field would be brief.

The Dodgers will play host to the Mets for Game 3 at 4:30 p.m. PT on Saturday, and for a potential Game 4 on Sunday, but that game has an "either/or" starting time. The game is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT. However, that game moves to 4:30 p.m. PT if the Yankees-Tigers series has concluded by Saturday.

Should a fifth game against the Mets be needed, it will be played Monday at 5 p.m. PT in New York.

Where's Tomko? Brett Tomko, who had pitched frequently in the seventh inning until a September slump, warmed up but did not appear Monday. He said he would have pitched the bottom of the ninth had the Dodgers tied the game.

"I don't think they've established roles, to be honest," Tomko said. "I understand the philosophy. With Penny pitching Game 4 and having pitched one inning in Colorado, you can't let him go more than a week without working. It could have very easily worked out."

Bouncing back: Little said he was confident his club would rebound from the self-inflicted baserunning damage that contributed to the Game 1 loss, but he also showed a rare glimpse of emotion about the toll a loss like that takes on a manager.

"It does," he said, when asked if the loss ate at him. "I'd be lying to say I don't go home and replay it. But [the outcome] never [changes]. It proves to be a waste of time."

He said he has not watched a replay of the bizarre play that had two Dodgers baserunners erased at home plate.

Angell recalls: Noted writer and New Yorker contributor Roger Angell watched the strange play and had a flashback to his youth.

"I saw that happen in 1936," said the 86-year-old Angell. "Lou Gehrig was the lead runner, Dixie Walker was trailing and Luke Sewell was catching for Washington. Couldn't believe it then, or now."

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Gagne and Mueller traveled with the club to New York, even though they can't play and, for different reasons, might never play for the Dodgers again. Brazoban did not make the trip, but he has been rehabilitating from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery with the club.

Werth is another story. He is two years into a rare and tricky wrist injury, having undergone a second operation in August at the Mayo Clinic by a wrist specialist he found. Werth said his cast was removed last week after six weeks of immobilization, and noted that recovery is going well and he expects to begin baseball activities next month. His surgeon, Dr. Richard Berger, "is highly optimistic that I will be able to return to 100 percent," Werth wrote in an e-mail.

"Here I am, 18 months after being struck on the opening day of the 2005 Spring Training, and I'm FINALLY on the road to recovery," Werth wrote. "Dr. Berger called my injury 'an injury of pain.'"

Berger repaired a split tear of the ulnotriquetral ligament with a procedure only he performs, according to Werth, who hopes to heal in time for some winter ball and resume his Major League career next year.

"I really miss the guys," he wrote. "It's unfortunate the way things turned out, but the good news is I'm gonna be healthy. Since coming home, I've bought the baseball package and rarely miss a game. I would have been in N.Y., but didn't want to impose. I'm superstitious that way, too. Don't want to rock the boat, they've got a good thing going."

Ken Gurnick is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.